A voyage of learning and understanding

And I'm back. The trip to India, despite my trepidations turned out to be better than I had anticipated. Visiting the place of my birth after an absence of nearly 35 years was interesting, informative and revealing. The warmth of the people and their unquestioning acceptance of ways they probably thought were weird, was complete.

The travel itself was wearying. When I actually did the calculation, I was somewhat dismayed to discover that the door-to-door travel time, from leaving my home in Boulder, Colorado to entering my mother's house in the deep south of India took an eye watering 40 hours of elapsed time.

When I got back my friends badgered me over beers as to the things I found most changed, the most intriguing, the most infuriating and most endearing about the country and its people. So I thought I would share my thoughts in that regard:

The 10 most endearing things I encountered:

10. The 'wag' of the head, a uniquely Indian body expression, meaning 'I agree' or 'OK', where it is neither a nod nor a headshake.
9. People wanting to do things for you - like carry your suitcase or open doors for you
8. Everyone wants to feed you. If you're visiting you must eat. Or you must drink tea or coffee. How people remain relatively slim with all this eating is beyond me.
7. The incredible food. After the first few meals at the homes of relatives I visited, I stopped complaining that I had just eaten lunch. The food was so good, that if they wanted to feed me lunch twice, who was I to object?
6. People get offended if you thank them. They see expressions of thanks as 'formality' and are offended that you're treating them as you would a stranger.
5. The "We'll adjust somehow" attitude. In the face of daunting adversity people find it in their hearts to be charitable and accommodating to others. A bus may be full beyond its designed capacity, with people hanging on to every possible protuberance of the vehicle (including the roof) but there's always room for one more passenger and his stuff.
4. The attitude towards animals. Domestic animals and strays alike are treated with such acceptance that goats, cows, dogs and chickens wander through village and small town streets without any fear of harm. Traffic stops to let them pass and moves on.
3. The cleanliness of small villages. Be they however poor, everyone seems to freshly showered and changed in the morning often with wet hair, and the outside of the homes are freshly sprinkled with water and a design with rice flour (to feed the ants) is made on the doorstep.
2. The love of music. Every street corner seems to have a little tea shop that plays music loudly seemingly to attract customers. From devotional songs early in the morning to popular film music through the day, the radio falls silent only when the shop closes for the night at 11:00.
1. The smiles. From shy schoolgirls smiling behind henna'd fingers to the toothless grin of the grizzled farm hand, everyone seems to be smiling all the time. And it's not the rictus of forced mirth. It's the open smile of welcome, of hope and just pure happiness.

Not everything is sweetness and light however. My next post shall be about the most infuriating things I encountered.